Cedar chest



Dec. 10, 1935.

E. c. CROCKER CEDAR CHEST Filed May 1, 1951 Patented Dec. 10, 1935 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CEDAR CHEST Application May 1, 1931, Serial No. 534,418

6 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in cedar chests and like cedar receptacles, and has special reference to the provision of a chest having locks, clasps, holdbacks, metallic sealing elements or other metallic parts or fittings, which may be generally termed hardware, which are proof against the deleterious actions of cedar oil aroma (vapor) and against the gumming of such oil thereon and the transfer of the oil to and discoloration of the 10 surfaces of the chest thereby.

Lane chests are specially made of cedar oil bearing woods of high oil content and specially constructed and provided with 'special sealing means, as shown, for example, in application of Lawrence K. Loftin; filed November 15, 1929, Se-

rial No. 407,549, to ensure the impregnation of the air in the chest with cedar oil aroma in such volume as to destroy moths and their larvae and to keep the chest sealed sufficiently tight, even when the lid is'carelessly or imperfectly closed,

to maintain such a condition of the internal atmosphere of the chest for a period of many years before any material reduction in the amount of cedar oil stored in the chest occurs. Such chests are tested for determination of their oil bearing quantity and tightness against escape of vapors by apparatus of the type disclosed in the applications of Ernest C. Crocker, Serial No. 468,980, filed July 8, 1930 and Serial No. 493,636, led November 5, 1930, which give very accurate results, and all chests not fully standing the tests to which they are subjected are rejected as not sufciently conforming to the prescribed standards to warrant putting them on the market for sale.

As a result of the special features of construction referred to, chests of this type have been found to protect clothes stored in them against the ravages of moths to such a degree that a policy of a standard insurance company is issued to each purchaser of a chest guaranteeing to protect the purchaser for a period of years against losses due to damage by moths and their larvae to clothes stored in the chest, without requirement as to condition of clothes, i. e., whether or not the same are free from moths and moth larvae at the time they are placed in the chest; in other words, without requirement that the clothes be specially cleaned or treated to free them from such pests.

It has been found, however, that the practical marketing of a chest of such construction and with such a high vapor laden atmosphere is open to certain difculties and commercial objections, of importance alike to manufacturer, seller and user. These diiiiculties and objections are as follows:

(Cl. 20G-10) The hardware in cedar chests, such as hinges, holdbacks, locks, etc., tends to become covered with a sticky, gummy coating which is always unattractive, and which may stain articles kept in the chest which come in contact with it. This 5 has apparently always been noted to some degree in the better makes of cedar chests, all of which seem to be more or less liable to it, but the Lane chests, of truly tight construction, are particularly badly affected, because of the high concen- 10 tration and exceptional duration in the chest body and internal atmosphere of the cedar oil and cedar oil vapor, commonly known in the trade as aroma. Thus while these chests give maximum protection to clothing stored therein 15 as against injury or destruction by moths or other insects, they are at the same time open to the objection that, because of the aflinity of hardware parts for cedar oil vapor, diiculties and objections are present which must be overcome, in 20 order to prevent the sticking of locks, gumming of oil on the metal surfaces and transfer of the oil contents on the metal parts to the Walls of the chest or to the clothing, whereby the same are stained or discolored. These objections mili- 25 tate materially against the sale of the chests, notwithstanding their great value in protecting clothing against moth damage.

The object of my invention, therefore, is to provide a chest the hardware or metal fittings 3o of which are made of metals or metal alloys, or coated or plated metals, of a character which will prevent the above-noted objections incidental to the use of hardware of the metals heretofore employed,` and which will allow of the construc- 35 tion of chests having hardware or metal fittings of a type which will resist the deposit of oil thereon and thus prevent transfer of oil therefrom to the walls of the chest or articles of clothing contained therein. 4.0

In the acompanying drawing,

Fig. l is a perspective view of a Lane type of chest provided with hardware of a character embodying my invention, showing the lid of the chest in open position, and 45 Fig. 2 is a sectional View through the wall of the chest and closed lid taken in the planev of the lid lock.

Lane chests of the construction in practical use today are the result of many years of experimental 50 work in building aroma tight chests and in studying the nature of cedar oil bearing woods and the effect of cedar oil and cedar oil aroma or vapor on insect life and various kinds of wood, metallic, composite and finished surfaces. Dur- 55 ing some of these experiments it was observed that common rosin, and, to some extent, oily, waxy and resinous materials in general, attract and hold cedar aroma. One part of rosin, for instance, has been observed to absorb as much as thirty parts of cedar wood oil, and this attractiveness has been made the basis of a valuable method of measuring aroma density in chests It was also observed that tiny spatters of varnish which entered chests during the finishing operations formed nuclei for the formation of greasy places in the chest. A Government investigator has recently published a report on the importance of preventing the presence of oxidized oils in vapor containers. Ind. & Eng. Chem, 22, 1136 (1930). However, a chest of the highly tight construction of the Lane chest, made up carefully to avoid the presence of resins, waxes and oxidized oils, will nevertheless often develop noticeable gummy hardware in from three to four months after manufacture. This frequently occurs while the chests are on sale in stores, so that the gumminess or oil discolorations are a serious sales handicap.

The hardware heretofore generally used by makers of cedar chests consists of brass-plated and lacquered iron pieces.. Observations have shown that all iron in a cedar chest, whether plain iron or brass-plated and/or lacquered iron, practically always becomes oil-coated in from two to three months, which coating of oil oxidizes and attracts more oil, which, in turn, oxidizes and attracts still more oil, etc., until in from six to eight months a very gummy condition results. Experimentation for a long period hasl established the fact that iron, especially, has a veryA strong affinity for cedar aroma, or power of attracting the same, so that the aroma vapor condenses thereon and forms a coating of the character described. This coating is often of such an amount that a quantity of the oil may be transferred by rubbing contact or by creeping or capillary attraction to the walls of the chest or to clothing kept in the chest, so that the chest walls or clothing become badly discolored or stained. The oxidation of the oil which occurs in the use of iron hardware is apparently catalytic, as slight occasional condensations on other surfaces often and usually do evaporate away again and do not become cumulative. Experimentation further shows that brassplating, as ordinarily lacquered, and other customary finishes used on chest hardware, are insufficient to prevent such bad activity of iron. Brass-plating of the iron reduces the trouble to a slight extent only. Lacquer of the ordinary varnish type does not prevent the trouble, but is not itself usually the main cause of the trouble, since iron hardware with or without a lacquered coating suffers to substantially the same degree.

I have discovered that ordinary iron and nished iron hardware as ordinarily finished is, for the foregoing reasons, unsuited for use in high-aroma cedar chests. I have also discovered that other metals, particularly those of the aluminum group, are not actively catalytic in the sense of favoring oxidation of cedar oil aroma, hence do not cause the combined oxidation and condensation of cedar oil thereon and are therefore highly suited for use in the making of hardware for high aroma cedar chests. I have further discovered that iron may be used under certain conditions, if provided with a plating of metal having the same negative catalytic property as aluminum, for example, cadmium or silver-plated iron, so as to provide a surface which is non-oxidizing for and hence non-attractive for cedar oil or has a lack of affinity for cedar oil, whereby the condensation of cedar oil vapor thereon will be prevented.

In the accompanying drawing, showing a higharoma type of chest embodying the invention, 5 designates the body of the chest, adapted to be closed at its top by a lid or cover 2, attached thereto by the hinges S, the chest body and cover being provided with coacting lock members ll and 5, the parts 3, 4, and 5 constituting hardware ele- 1() ments of the character` referred to. These hardware elements if made in the usual way are open tothe objections noted and are designed, in accordance with my present invention, to be made of a metal or metals of a character resisting or pre- 15 venting the deposit of cedar oil thereon. Holdbacks and various other elements of hardware may, of course, be used, but those shown are suiiicient for the purpose of illustrating the invention. There is also shown on the margins of the cover 20 a resilient metallic sealing strip 6 having a free edge portion arranged for contact with the upper edges of the walls of the body so as to tightly close the joint between the cover and body when the cover is closed even if the cover is not fully 25 pushed down and bound or locked. This strip is preferably made of duralumin or of copper or bronze, which is more highly resistant to the deposit of cedar oil than plain or ordinary finished iron. The strip may become coated in course of 30 time, but since it is not in Contact with the goods in a chest and since it may be cleaned without difficulty, it is therefore not a material source of trouble.

My invention consists in making the parts 3', 4, 35 and 5, and other hardware parts which may be applied to the chest, of aluminum or one of its alloys, such as duralumin, or other metals or metal alloys which are non-catalytic toward the oxidation of cedar oil vapor, and hence for which 40y cedar oil vapor has no aiinity, and on which, therefore, cedar oil will not be deposited, at least to any material or objectionable extent, and on which oxidation of the oil or a continued building up of the oil and gumming of the oil can not 4,5 occur. According to my discoveries so far, aluminum and its alloys are the metals best adapted for the purpose, within the permissible cost range. Silver, for example, may be used, or other metals plated with silver, but the cost would commonly 50 be objectionable. Copper, brass, and bronze are more resistant to oil than plain iron, or iron hardware finished in the ordinary way, but when exposed directly to the oil vapor will gradually become coated and gummy. Specially prepared 55 iron hardware may be used, such as tin-plated, silver-plated, or cadmium-plated iron, if a plating of sufficient thickness is made to provide a surface which overcomes the attraction of the iron for the oil and furnishes a surface which 60 has a lack of tendency to oxidize the oil. In lieu of these platings, other platings or finishes for iron may be employed where the same result is obtained, that is, a surface produced which is non-catalytic toward the oxidation of cedar oil. 65, While aluminum or one of its alloys, or a metal containing aluminum, is preferably employed, I may, under some conditions, use one of the other metals named, or an alloy of them, or iron, plated or treated in the special manner described, to provide a non-attractive surface for cedar oil which serves to a great extent as an equivalent in this connection of aluminum or one of its alloys.

It will be seen from the foregoing that my invention consists in the provision of a chest having hardware of a character which overcomes the serious objections noted to hardware of the type heretofore employed, and by which hardware is furnished which will not take up oil by deposit from the walls of the chest or from the aroma laden atmosphere in the chest and cause gumming of surfaces or transfer of the oil to the walls of the chest or to clothing stored therein. Such objectionable gumming or staining or discoloring of the che-st or clothes will accordingly be prevented, enabling a high aroma chest of the character described to be used without the disadvantages at present encountered. The use of hardware made of metals, metal alloys, or plated or coated metals of the character described introduces into the art of building cedar chests hardware of a new property, that of being nonattractive to the deposit thereon of cedar oil vapor, whereby there is imparted to high aroma cedar chests a new quality or property not previously possessed by chests of this type. My discovery of the new property and particular value of aluminum and its' alloys for use in the making of hardware for high aro-ma cedar chests not only allows hardware of attractive appearance to be furnished, but enables a chest to be built which may have an extraordinarily high oil content, and a highly impregnated cedar oil vapor atmosphere, Without deleteriously affecting the hardware or staining or discoloring the surfaces of the chest or its contents.

Having thus fully described my invention, I claim:-

1. A receptacle adapted to protect articles stored therein against attack by moths, said receptacle being so constructed as to constitute 5 when'closed a substantially gas-tight chamber, means for emitting cedar oil vapor into said chamber, said means being adequate to so surcharge with cedar oil Vapor the interior of the chest, When closed, that objectionable gummy deposits would occur on iron or brass rsufaces exposed thereto, metal ware fittings constituting component structural elements of said receptacle having surfaces exposed to the interior thereof, said exposed surfaces being of such a metallic character as to prevent formation of gummy deposits thereon.

2. A receptacle as defined in claim 1 in which the surfaces of the metal ware fittings are aluminum.

3. A receptacle as dened in claim 1 in which the surfaces of the metal ware fittings are an aluminum alloy.

4. A receptacle as defined in claim 1 in which the surfaces of the metal ware ttings are duralumin.

5. A receptacle as dened in claim 1 in which the surfaces of the metal ware fittings are tin.

6. A receptacle as defined in claim 1 in which the surfaces of the metal ware fittings are cadmium.

ERNEST C. CROCKER. 

